


Shifting Clothes and Sky Filled Hair

by LadyBrooke



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: Post-Canon, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-05 00:20:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15158345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: Sarah enters a park and meets a man who is not familiar, until he is.





	Shifting Clothes and Sky Filled Hair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liesmyth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liesmyth/gifts).



“Hello, Sarah.”

Sarah looked around, finally locating a man sitting on a bench near the entrance to the bus station. He didn’t look familiar, but she still felt a strange urge to step closer.

“Do I know you?” she asked instead, staying in the same spot.

“I would hope so, though perhaps not in this guise,” he said. “Still, precious thing, I would hope that I haven’t slipped entirely from your mind.”

“Jareth?” She stepped closer. “But you don’t look like-”

The man shifted, settling into the Goblin King she had seen before. “Surely you know that any trickster isn’t bound to one form?”

“I thought you were one of the fae, actually, because of the whole labyrinth and your lands being connected to ours but not normally accessible to humans,” she said.

“Ah, that’s why you keep an iron charm in your windows at home when you don’t want any visitors,” he said. “You would be correct about both the fae and the iron, though that doesn’t preclude my being a trickster.”

“Of course it wouldn’t.” Sarah sighed before looking around at the park. “Is there a child here you’re waiting to steal?”

She hadn’t noticed anyone, but she supposed it was possible.

Jareth shrugged. “Perhaps, if they say the words.”

“I would have thought you would know if they were going to,” she said, finally taking a seat on the bench next to him. “Sir Didymus acted like he had been certain I would come, the last time he visited.”

“In your case, it was certain.” Jareth flicked a hand in the air, catching a peach from nowhere and holding it out to Sarah. She shook her head. “No peach?”

“Perhaps the next time we meet, if you don’t play too many tricks on me this time,” Sarah said. “What do you mean that it was certain in my case?”

“You wound me – asking one of the fae and a trickster to not play too many tricks.” Jareth bit into the peach, before continuing. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you why it was certain in your case.”

“I’ll revise the agreement to you not playing too cruel of tricks, if you tell me,” she offered.

“Trusting a trickster to keep a bargain. Really, Sarah?” Jareth looked at her, raising a brow.

“Trusting a trickster would not do anything too cruel to someone he seems determined to become friends with,” she replied. “Am I wrong?”

He shook his head. “Even when you were in my lands as a girl, they wouldn’t let me be too cruel to you. It is less than appealing.”

“So they will let you be cruel to others,” she said. “Is this related to how you were certain I was coming, but you’re not certain about the child you’re waiting for today?”

He nodded. “If it was certain that the child was coming today, I wouldn’t have been able to shift to this form. We are what the wisher expects and the lands and Labyrinth decide, though we play our own tricks.”

“So today you’re a man in suit,” she said. “And when I came you were the Goblin King.”

“I am always the Goblin King,” he replied. “Even when I don’t look like one, I am. But you came closer to seeing us as we really are than any other runner has.”

“But not exactly how you are.” Sarah looked at him. “Are you still what I want to see?”

“Perhaps,” Jareth said. “You see us as nicer than we are – threatening, yes, but defeatable. Grumpy, but supportive, in the case of your friends. Annoyances, in the case of the goblins.”

“Which you aren’t,” Sarah said.

“Which we are, but only in part. If a wisher wants us to be, we are undefeatable. The goblins are threatening, not just annoyances,” Jareth grinned, showing his teeth. “We are not kind or nice to everyone.”

“And you’re wearing a suit today because that’s what the wisher thinks you’ll look like.” Sarah glanced over hm. “I wonder, do they think you’re threatening or boring?”

“Hopefully not the second, the Labyrinth is always upset when that happens,” Jareth said. “And then the goblins become rebellious, and it takes months before things settle to the point I can leave to perform tricks again.”

“I’m sure you can wait for things to settle down.” Sarah raised an eyebrow. “Is it just me, or is your outfit shifting to something else?”

Jareth looked down. “So it is.”

“It looks like an elf costume from a movie,” she said, taking in the green tunic and the brown boots.

He frowned before shrugging. “It’s still better than wearing that suit, I suppose.”

Sarah laughed. “You hate that suit, don’t you?”

“It’s so dull, and the people you can trick wearing a suit are not fun to play with. They just shriek at me and don’t argue.” Jareth rolled his eyes before continuing. “Or they assume I’m some kind of corporate spy, which is even duller.”

“And the ones you meet wearing an elf costume aren’t?” she asked.

“The last one tried to shoot me with a bow and arrow.” He grinned again. “It was an exciting afternoon.”

“Shoot you? That’s your idea of fun?” She rubbed a hand on her forehead. “I hope that most of your wishers aren’t skilled enough to hurt you.”

“They rarely even come close,” he said. “It is amusing to see them attempt it, though, and then realize that they can’t.”

“What do they do when they realize they can’t?” Sarah asked.

“Some get angry. Some ask questions,” he said. “One begged me to take her instead of her sister, because it was unfair that such a boring child should get to go live in a magic world instead of her.”

“What did you do?”

“Returned both of them, of course,” Jareth said. “I don’t need someone running around my Labyrinth, messing everything up in an attempt to learn magic. The last one to do that almost lit the entire hedge on fire.”

Sarah paused before speaking. “That would make the Labyrinth angry.”

“She would just regrow, but yes, it would make her angry,” Jareth said, standing. “I can’t shift anymore, dear Sarah, so I suspect my next wisher is close to speaking. Perhaps we can meet again one day soon.”

Sarah nodded. “I suppose you didn’t pull any tricks…”

Jareth vanished as she spoke.

Sarah laughed when she realized her hair was shifting colors to match the sky.

 


End file.
